reliquary
/ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/
"reliquary" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reliquary” is uncommon English (frequency #66,984 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,984
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A container to hold or display religious relics.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | reliquary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #66,984 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “reliquary” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
reliquary is uncommon English at frequency #66,984 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for reliquary, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“I relinquish”), from re- (“again”) and linqu… The correct English form is reliquary, spelled R-E-L-I-Q-U-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A container to hold or display religious relics.
- 2An object that sustains the memory of past people or events.
- 3A person who owes a balance.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“I relinquish”), from re- (“again”) and linquō (“I leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leikʷ-.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “reliquary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-L-I-Q-U-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.